This Saturday at 19:39 the female was nesting. I couldn't watch her because I had to leave, but I have some pictures. The temperature was nice, 24ºC, maybe this explains why she was nesting so early (she usually nests at night). Two years ago she also nested in the afternoon.
The hole was nearly finished, so I guess she started between 18:00 and 19:00.
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| Next morning you could only see this |
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| At 3 cm the eggs appear. Some years ago I mixed some small size sand with the earth, this helps in the nest excavation. |
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| Two of them were in a nearly vertical position |
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| The hole once emptied. The ground was at 4 cm. |
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| In vermiculite, ready for the incubator. I put them in the same position, but I don't think it happened anything bad if I had put them horizontal. |
This time there were three eggs. In previous years she had done 4 eggs in the first clutch and 3 eggs in a second clutch. I was expecting this clutch because I palpated the eggs some days ago, but I wonder if it could be a second clutch. I could have missed the first one. In previous years she had nested in May and we are in the second half of June. I have not palpated her regularly because I didn't want to disturb her too much. So, it could be that there is a first clutch somewhere.
The new couple is very shy. The pond is in a very quiet place and instead of becoming tame, they are becoming wild. When I get close to the pond I just see them throwing into the water, just like frogs do.
There is plenty of duckweed in the pond now. It occupies all the surface excepte the moving water created by the aerator.
I have put some fish to avoid mosquitoes. It is not the native mosquitoes that worry me, but a relativelly new mosquito, the "tiger mosquito" from Asia (Aedes albopictus) that came in 2004. This one stings during the day, an important difference with the common mosquito when you want to watch the turtles . The sting is also more painful and lasts for longer. In other countries it acts as a vector of dangerous human diseases, something that does not happen here fortunately, at least until now.
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| A green carpet |
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| The few pictures I could take before it hide |
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| The duckweed tells the stone they use for sunbathing |
